Clear-Com® supported On Air 2026, a 24-hour student-led broadcast connecting 45 universities across 30 countries. Using Station-IC™ virtual intercom panels, an Eclipse® HX Digital Matrix system and FreeSpeak Cell™ wireless beltpacks, Clear-Com helped production teams coordinate communications across multiple studios and production areas at the University of Westminster School of Media and Communication in London.
Broadcast from 1 a.m. GMT Oct. 22 through 1 a.m. GMT Oct. 23, the event featured five YouTube channels dedicated to culture, kids, news, sports and film. More than 2,500 students, staff members and industry partners contributed to the production, with student-created content spanning Australia, New Zealand, Africa, Asia, Europe, the United Kingdom, North America and South America.
Led by Carrie Wootten, producer of On Air 24 and CEO of Media Talent Manifesto, this year’s production expanded on the previous year’s single-channel broadcast, introducing five channels across four studios. The production chain was entirely cloud-based, from content ingest through transmission, using technology from more than 40 industry partners.
“On Air 2026 was an incredible opportunity to bring together students and industry partners from around the world to experience the collaboration and coordination required to deliver a complex broadcast,” said Wootten. “With five channels running across multiple studios and a fully cloud-based production workflow, everyone was able to stay connected and working together throughout the 24 hours.”
Clear-Com provided Station-IC virtual intercom panels to more than 30 universities, connecting them to an Eclipse HX Delta matrix frame at the University of Westminster through a fixed IP address provided by the university. Two E-IPA interface cards in the Eclipse Delta frame enabled the external communications network to remain separate from the university’s internal network. One E-IPA card supported five lever key panels for channel operators and two lever key panels for the main MCR team.
To extend communications beyond the control room, the production team deployed four FreeSpeak Cell beltpacks across key production locations. Using the public 5G cellular network, students and production personnel could receive cues and communicate directly with channel operators, including inside the auditorium, which hosted the film channel and awards programming.
Additional FreeSpeak Cell beltpacks supported the newsroom for the news and kids channels, the TV studio for the culture channel and roaming engineering support throughout the campus. One beltpack also served as a primary communications point in the podcast studio.
The combination of virtual intercom panels, a centralised matrix system and cellular wireless communications enabled teams to coordinate activity across multiple locations during the continuous broadcast.
“Having taken part in last year’s On Air, which broadcast a single channel of YouTube content presented from one TV studio, we knew that this year’s 24 hours would be more of a challenge with five channels presented from four studios,” said John Sparrow, EMEA senior systems consultant at Clear-Com. “By utilising the Delta matrix and FreeSpeak Cell alongside Station-IC and hardware panels, we were able to scale the system up to give a seamless communications experience to the students and industry volunteers who took part.”
Clear-Com’s involvement in On Air 2026 also provided an opportunity to support emerging broadcast talent and engage with cloud-based production technologies.
The event followed the success of On Air 24, the previous year’s production, which received the Collaborative Team Award at the Royal Television Society Awards. The 2026 broadcast coincided with the awards ceremony on Oct. 22.
Watch the On Air 2026 content on the On Air YouTube channel.
